Why the Pentatonic Scale Is Bad for You

“Sometimes in life, the things we love the most are the very same things that hurt us very deeply.”

So says guitar instructor Sean Daniel, whose lessons we have shared here on GuitarWorld.com for the better part of a year.

Is he talking about his pet tiger? Nope. His pet grizzly bear? Nope. He’s refering to the tried-and-true pentatonic scale, the best friend of millions upon millions of guitarists for the past 50 years.

“[The pentatonic scale] can be one of the most limiting tools that a budding guitarist can fall into if not taken with the right perspective,” Daniel says. “[I’m] sharing some of my thoughts on the positives [of] learning the major and minor scales first—then transitioning into pentatonics when the time is right.”